Adult Cat with VolunteerSurrendering Animals

Due to staffing shortages the wait time at our shelter may be longer than usual. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding! 

We recognize that owners sometimes have to make the difficult decision to give up their animals. If you are considering giving up your pet, we encourage you to reach out to us as soon as possible so that we can learn more about your pet and why you might be considering rehoming them. Depending on the specifics of your situation, we may be able to help you with options for working with a trainer on behavior issues, refer you to a breed-specific private adoption group or direct you to other resources. We can also answer any questions you might have about our surrender process, fees and our adoption program to help you make an informed decision about surrendering your pet to Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA (PHS/SPCA). If you have questions about surrendering your pet to PHS/SPCA, please contact our Receiving Department at 650-340-7022 ext. 339.

If you are a San Mateo County resident and you’ve exhausted every option for keeping or re-homing your pet, you can bring your pet to the Coyote Point shelter at 12 Airport Blvd, San Mateo during our normal operating hours. Please note that if you have adopted your animal from another adoption agency or rescue group, you must attempt to return the animal to them prior to using our services. Many organizations will gladly accept their animals back that they had adopted out if you are unable to keep them, some may even have this as a stipulation in the adoption contract. Surrenders do take time and you should be prepared to spend time at the shelter for this request. As part of the surrender process, we collect a surrender fee but that fee, like others, is set by San Mateo County and forwarded to the County — not kept by PHS/SPCA.

For your convenience, we also offer the option to schedule an appointment to surrender your pet. Appointments are available on a limited basis. To start the process, please call 650-340-7022 ext. 125 and leave a message. Our staff will return your call Monday-Friday to learn more about the animal you wish to surrender and to schedule a time for you to bring your animal to the shelter. An appointment to surrender your pet is not necessary but is offered to streamline the process and reduce your wait time in our lobby.

As an open-door shelter, PHS/SPCA accepts all animals brought to us, regardless of age, breed or size. We are direct and honest when people surrender their pets to us. We evaluate each animal and take into consideration the animal’s age, temperament, behavior and health in order to determine which animals will be made available for adoption. While we are fortunate to be able to help many of the animals that come to us, there are some animals that have severe medical or behavioral conditions such that they are unsafe to rehome or have needs beyond what we can treat or rehabilitate. In such instances, we will let pet owners know at the time of surrender that we cannot find a new home for their pet to allow them to make the decision as to whether or not they wish to surrender their pet to us. In some cases, clients make the difficult decision to surrender their pet for euthanasia while other times they elect to seek out other options. If we believe we may be able to work with an animal, we always lean towards taking them in and giving them a chance but when we know that is not possible, we are upfront with pet owners. These are incredibly difficult decisions for pet owners and we work very hard to handle every situation with honesty and respect regardless of the decisions made.